Natala's Story
by dragonwriter512
Summary: Natala's life has been immensly changed. First a girl at Benden Hold, then a newly-Impressed goldrider, then soon to be Weyrwoman of 7th Pass Benden Weyr. And then her queen's first flight ends with an unbelievable miracle that frees her from her silence.
1. Chosen

I bounded down the outer hold stairs from the drum tower. Turgen followed close behind. The whole hold was rushing out to see the dragons who had just arrived over Benden Hold.

We made it down the steps and ran through the crowd now gathered outside Benden Hold's main doors. We looked for and eventually spotted Master Zeplin, Benden's Harper. Turgen's head was taller than most in the crowd, though he and I were only sixteen turns old. As we joined master Zeplin I got only a glimpse of the Lord Holder speaking with the dragonriders.

The Lord Holder turned and beckoned Zeplin to send his students forward. All twenty-two young men and women eligible for Search lined themselves up in front of the three green dragons and one blue. With my gift of hearing dragons, I could hear their conversation. The first green started at the other end of the line from Turgen and I.

_This boy is obnoxious! I can feel it._

_Not suitable for the Weyr, _the second green replied to the first's comment.

_This girl is quite strong willed, but she thinks a lot. Her thoughts are loud, _the third moved on.

_She will do, then,_ the first replied.

The greens went through all the other candidates this way, choosing only seven out of the many available. The second green came to Turgen and very strongly remarked on his attitude.

_He is strong. He stands beside one who is broken, I gather from his thoughts._

_He would have led a great group, his father being the Lord Holder, yet they shun him for his love for the broken one, _the third green added. _He will do very well. And the broken one?_

Hold on, did they just say Turgen loved me and refer to me as the 'Broken One'?

_Ah, she hears us! She is the one who stands next to him, _the first green said.

About time you noticed.

_What has left you broken, young one?_

I was shocked that they would speak to me, but instead I replied to them with my mind, _I was born unable to speak. Everyone else shuns me because I stare at them and seem dumb when they speak and I can't reply._

_She needs the Weyr, _the third said,_ she knows how to nurture and to lead, though she cannot. She has a gift. She can become great as a weyrwoman._

The green said something private to her rider, and he motioned me forward. Now nine Candidates lined up in front of the dragons, the ones chosen out of Benden for Benden Weyr's latest clutch.

**Alright, that was a bit fast. It'll be longer next time. Please R&R.**


	2. Impressed

I gasped as we came out of _between_ over Benden Weyr. Turgen and I were seated behind T'rol on blue Elath. The large blue glided down into the Weyr bowl. He landed and Turgen slid of, extending his arms to help me down. Once on the ground, I gazed up all around the Weyr Bowl. The dragon's voices filled my mind. I tried to block them out, but I still heard them all.

Elath took off, allowing the other dragons conveying candidates to land and let their passengers dismount. All nine candidates gathered in a group and waited as three people approached. The leader was a short woman with short brown hair and a smile on her face. Behind her was a taller man with cropped black hair and an even taller man with graying hair.

"Welcome," the woman said. "I am Weyrwoman Agina. This is Weyrleader B'gor and Weyrlingmaster N'gun."

The Weyrwoman said a few more words of welcome and left with the Weyrleader. The Weyrlingmaster was left to deal with us.

"Greetings candidates. Though most of you will probably not become dragonriders, I'd still like to learn your names." He scanned the group and pointed at me. "You there, young lady, what is your name?"

I said nothing. I didn't know what to do, but Turgen spoke up for me.

"Her name is Natala, sir. She can't speak."

I looked at Turgen. His arms, much like mine, were lean and muscular from pounding the drum in Benden's Drum Tower for three years. He was the only one who understood my wordlessness, better than my parents knew me. But even though he was my closest friend, I still had not told him about my gift.

The Weyrlingmaster asked, "So you are, aren't you Natala?"

I nodded.

He nodded as well, and asked, "Ah, and what would be yours, lad?"

"Turgen."

--------------

The next two weeks passed by without much excitement. I met the other female candidates and worked in the Lower Caverns. I listened to N'gun give lectures on Hatchings. I ate and slept and worked. I heard the dragons and some of them spoke to me.

At the end of two weeks, I awoke to humming in the Weyr. I searched the Weyr for the nearest dragon and found Elath.

_What's going on?_ I asked him.

_The Hatching._

I sat up and looked around the Candidates' Barracks. Other female Candidates were getting up and putting on their white Hatching Tunics and thick boots. I rose and did the same.

I followed the others outside and we joined N'gun and the other Candidates. The Weyrlingmaster lined everyone up in two lines and lead us towards the Hatching Grounds. Turgen fell in line beside me near the end of the line. We exchanged nervous smiles and faced forward in our lines. All eighty Candidates walked to the Hatching Grounds where forty-three eggs waited to Hatch.

Dragons, riders, and guests had already gathered around the hot sands. I caught a glimpse of my parents in the crowd, seated near the Lord and Lady Holders of Benden Hold. I turned my attention back to the sands and saw the forty-two dragon eggs and the one golden queen egg. The great queen Gareth, whose rider was Agina, moved her eyes through the approaching Candidates. Her gaze fell on me as I stepped up onto the hot sands.

_She will choose you,_ Gareth told me.

When the last Candidate, a boy with curly red hair, stepped up to the sands, the first egg hatched and a small bronze tumbled out. The little one stumbled through the Candidates to that last boy, knocked him over, and Impression was made. The boy cried out, "Wait Turth, you'll get fed!"

_But I'm really hungry, B'lanon._

I smiled and watched as other Candidates found their matches. All at once, five blues and browns burst out of their shells and found their new matches. Two bronzes collided while searching for their new riders, but recovered and found two older boys hanging at the edge of the crowd. Two greens got in a fight over a boy, until Tralina, one of the other girls from Benden Hold, came to break them up. She instead got chosen by one of the greens. Tralina shouted, "What? Bellath, I can't understand you!"

_I said I'm really hungry, Tr'lina._

Five minutes later, all but two eggs and the queen egg had hatched. One of the two normal eggs hatched out a green and she found a girl starting to approach the queen egg. She was the second girl to be paired with a green. The last egg hatched and a very large bronze hatchling came out. A light appeared in Turgen's eyes as the new one ran straight for him. I moved aside as the two came together and Impression took place.

_I am Nalonth. Please feed me T'gen!_

_Ok, hold on, you'll be fed._

T'gen turned his head and glanced up at Natala, his mouth formed into a wide smile. I looked over at the queen egg. It rocked back and forth and glowed brightly. The bronzes looking down from above hummed loudly, awaiting the hatching of their future mate.

All of the sudden it's rocking stopped and the egg split neatly in half. A huge golden queen burst from the shell, stood, and looked around. the queen looked around until her eyes found me. She ran and almost immediately tripped on her right wing. The other female Candidates surrounded her, but Gareth growled and they backed away.

I ran forward to help the little queen, whose wing had gotten tangled in her claw. She had started to whimper, and I saw ichor, dragon's blood, dripping down her wing.

_Oh, it hurts, it hurts!_ She wailed.

_Shh, _I hushed her, _I am here, I can help. _I untangled her wing and claw and gently placed her foot back on the ground. She stopped whimpering.

_Oh, thank you, that is so much better. I'm Kaylith._

_I...you..._, Natala tried to say in her mind, but couldn't seem to grasp the words. Her eyes started to water as she looked into Kaylith's eyes.

_What's wrong?_ Kaylith asked her. _I am here. You don't need to be sad. You are mine and I love you._

_I'm not sad, I'm just so overwhelmed. I'm so worried that they won't like me._

_Why would they not like you? _Kaylith asked.

_I cannot speak._

_But I hear you, and I love you. They will love you too. You are a rider. The dragons accept you._

_We do, _the dragons around me said as one.

I rose. I saw T'gen feeding Nalonth and felt something being put into my hands. I looked to my right and saw Agina hand me a large bucket full of scraps of meat.

"She's very hungry," Agina said.

I began to kneel down when arms reached out to hug me. No- Mother!

"Oh, sweetie were so happy for-"

Kaylith growled at my mother. My mother let go and stepped away. I knelt and started handing out the meat to Kaylith.

_Thank you, _I told Kaylith.

_Couldn't you just tell her to go away? _Kaylith asked as she ate the meat.

_I can't make words with my mouth._

_Oh. At least you can talk to me._


	3. Remembered

**Thank you for the reviews. I have been going a bit too fast in my story. The next couple of chapters will cover Natala and Turgen/T'gen's past and then jump back to the present. Thank you for reading.**

**Author's note: Tralina's name does not officially change to "Tr'lina". Her dragon just didn't pronounce her whole name that one time. **

I had a dream the night after the Hatching.

I stood on the Drum Tower, looking down into Benden Hold. It was night. The sky was clear, the moons were full, and everything was illuminated by the light of the twin moons.

I heard voices echoing off the walls of the Outer hold. Three people walked around outside the hold doors, laughing and talking. I heard them, though their voices were faint.

"So why does Master Zeplin like her?" It was a female voice, something that sounded like Havera, one of the girls my age not chosen on Search.

"Before she got here he threw out everyone who couldn't sing one right note," a male's voice said, a lot like a younger Fenerten.

"Zeplin's probably just pitying Natala because whichever Harper taught her at Nerat probably wasn't even a journeyman yet," another male voice said, sounding a lot like Geloron before his voice changed.

The others burst out laughing. Havera said through bursts of laughter, "Her... handwriting... isn't much... better!"

I realized that this was a memory. I had been hiding in the Drum Tower that very night three turns ago, a few months after my family had arrived as weavers from Nerat Hold. I remember how they made fun of me after Master Zeplin had first asked me to introduce myself and I couldn't speak. Behind my back, they'd say I was dumb because I hadn't learned how to talk, which wasn't true. If I had the ability to speak, I would be able to talk just as they did. I had never clearly understood why they didn't like me.

"... and Turgen is always hanging around her. He stands by her in the back of the learning room whenever he's not up training in the Drum Tower

High above, my dream self shivered. Or at least in my memory I had shivered. Havera, Fenerten, and Geloron went back inside, their laughter dying as they passed through the doors.

Someone appeared by another door moments after the others disappeared into the Hold. He, it looked like, looked up at the Drum Tower. He ran to the Hold's outer stair that led up to the Tower. As he came closer, I could see it was Turgen. A light breeze began to blow, and it ruffled Turgen's shaggy brown hair. A few feet away from me, I could see his hazel eyes.

He arrived and stood next to me. He asked, "Are you cold?"

I shivered and nodded. I had climbed up to the Tower to hide while it was still warm midday, and I had not planned to be up here so late on this summer night. Turgen removed his warm coat and placed it on my shoulders, leaving him in boots, pants, and a sleeveless shirt.

"I saw them outside. Were they talking about you again?" he asked, his breath appearing in the cold air.

I nodded.

"I'm sorry that they treat you that way," he said. "They need to keep their mouths shut. They know nothing about you. You're not strange or different to me at all."

_Aww, Turgen_, I had thought three years ago on that night as my thirteen-turn-old self. _Why haven't you_-

He interrupted my thought, "I wasn't expecting to find you up here. I have to send an emergency message over to Bitra," he said the name with disgust, "despite how late it is."

He approached the large Drum and took off his sleeveless shirt. His chest and arms were already well muscled from drumming. He picked up the large drumming sticks and began his message. I knew the code for 'Attention' and 'End', but everything else was unfamiliar to me. The message lasted a minute. The next Drum Tower at a smaller hold between Benden and Bitra repeated it and passed the message on to the next.

Turgen, his body now glistening in sweat, hung up the sticks and came over to me. He started to say something, but my dream was already fading fast. The last thing I saw was his smile and his hazel eyes, those bright, beautiful, bronze...

I sat up in the sleeping furs, my body covered in sweat. In her part of our new weyr, Kaylith stirred.

_What happened, love?_

_A dream...I'm fine, Kay, _I reassured her. I fell back onto the bed, thinking of _why_ the others had disliked me.


	4. Loved

**Wow, I never imagined I would gets this many hits and subscribers for this story alone. Thanks for reading. Sorry that I haven't posted recently. Life is unimaginably busy. Here's chapter four at last!!!!!!!!!! **

I fell back asleep, suddenly cold under the mountain of blankets over me. I had curled into a ball, my knees under my chin.

I dreamed, again.

I stood in the Drum Tower, looking out over the fields below Benden, hundreds of rows of grapevines, bare in the cold of winter. About midday, the sun shone bright in the clear sky, day-old snow sparkling as far as I could see.

I wore some kind of animal skin wrapped around my shoulders. Beneath, I wore a sleeveless shirt , typical for drummers. Thick leather pants and boots protected the rest of my body from the biting high-altitude air. I recalled this scene as one from the previous winter, when I was fifteen, a day that had been almost as boring as all other winter days- nothing but shifts up in the Tower, with Turgen, of course.

The loud, pounding music of the drum rang through the valley, a message in the ancient Drum Code. It had been Turgen's turn to send this message, one about the installment of Lord Rotoros as Ista's Lord Holder by the Lord Holder's Council a few days ago. The message was celebrant, as Lord Rotoros already had a respected reputation throughout Pern. In my ears, this particular sequence of the Drum Code was more than just a message- it was a song.

After a minute, the drumbeats stopped. The next Tower repeated the message, sending it on to the next Tower, and the next, until the sound of drums halted altogether. Turgen now stood beside me, his face expressionless as he stared off into the distance, thinking of something to say to me.

He looked down just after a short gust of wind ruffled his hair and blew my long (as I preferred it) hair wild. He smiled, his eyes lighting up at the sight of my tossed hair, and I smiled too. I noticed a slight haziness to his face, like this was more a dream than my last dream.

For a moment, my dream self thought, _Oh, Turgen... so... happy with me here. If only... _And the me in my memory started to turn her entire body, started to take a step closer to Turgen, felt the sudden urge to wrap him in her arms and tell him... her feelings without words. Just a kiss might...

The dream shattered like broken glass. I was falling over an ocean, no land in sight, not even a ship. I was screaming, trying hard to suck in air as my falling speed took my breath away.

_Spread out wings, spread our wings,_ I thought frantically.

Hold on, _our wings_?

_Oh Natala, I'm coming. Don't fall. Spread our wings, flap or something... however we fly. Think! _

That was Kaylith this time, definitely. Our mind voices sounded so alike, but with a slight lisping in her voice and a younger tone. But she said this all to me as if it were real, though it couldn't be...

I thrust myself awake, gasping for air. On top of me sat Kaylith, her eyes closed, her gold body shivering, her mouth quivering.

_KAYLITH, WAKE UP! _I shouted into her mind, seeing what she saw- an fiery pit of lava, a volcano, and me falling, almost within reach of Kaylith but still unreachable. Still in a dream, like mine but more frantic. I would be able to try to stay alive in an ocean, but not in boiling lava- that made the dream even more nightmarish.

She opened her eyes, colored an... unnamable color, but certainly one that was real terror and horror and pain for a dragon. She stared right at me, her eyes taking on a shade of relief.

_Kaylith, it's ok, it was a dream. I'm here... just please get off me, _I asked her.

_Oh, NATALA!!!! I'm sorry, _she said, and immediately slipped down off my body and onto the bed beside me._ I thought it was real, I thought I was going to lose you- that you were going to die and I would die too. It was a dream?_

_Yes, love, _I said and wrapped my arms around her. She wrapped her neck around my head and her tail around my waist.

_Oh. I've never dreamed before- it was so real to me. I'm glad you're safe. I was seeing your other dreams too, with T'gen and those mean ones and the pretty white stuff- snow? But... everything is okay, and I love you._

_I love you too, Kay, and we can never be separated. _

**I've got some great ideas for this story, but if anyone of you (my fabulous readers and wonderful subscribers)have any ideas that I could thoughtfully **_**consider**_** putting in this story, write a review.**


	5. Broken

**Disclaimer: Since I haven't said this before, I'll say it now. I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern stories. This story and all of my characters (which includes all those in this story) are mine.**

**A/N: I don't know what to do beyond this chapter. I'm planning some sort of twist in the plot, but I have nothing to base that off of. ****Please ****R&R (in case you didn't know, it means read and review) so I don't succumb to eternal writer's block.**

_Two turns later, 20th year of 7th pass_

Benden Weyr buzzed in anticipation. The lower caverns smelled strongly of numbweed, a stench that reached up to our weyr and stung my eyes, making them water as I walked out onto the ledge. The crunching of firestone echoed against the rough stone of the Bowl. Weyrlingmasters and riders ordered around weyrlings, calling for firestone sacks to be piled up and ready.

All around the Rim of the Weyr Bowl, wings and dragons of all colors were assembling. Four hundred thirty five dragons assembled for Threadfall. This one would one start over the ocean and continue overland, right over Benden Hold, and end just above North Keroon. But it could change at any time, or so Weyrwoman Agina had told me a month before on the eve of my first fall.

I was late. My golden Kaylith was saddled and waiting. My long strides carried me out to her quickly as I hurried to strap on my helmet and pull on my flying gloves. I leaped up Kaylith's outstretched foreleg and swung my leg over the saddle. I hung on tight as she leaped off the ledge, spread her enormous gold wings, and glided down to the bottom of the Bowl.

Kaylith landed smoothly, alighting gently on the rocky dirt. A tall boy, a weyrling who I recognized as G'ten, rider of blue Saborth, brought me a flamethrower tank and nozzle. A smaller boy carried a second tank, which G'ten reached up and secured behind my saddle, while I readied the one I held. G'ten leaped down as Kaylith began a vertical takeoff. I nodded at the boys as they turned into ants below us.

We joined the other queens and the Wings, settling into position just as the last three or four dragons arrived. I was in the front of the queens wing, only because of Kaylith's immense size in comparison to the older queens. Every generation the dragons grew bigger, as I had learned after watching a queen-less hatching a few months before. We weren't the ones in charge of the queens, but we had a role to play.

Agina led the queens wing from the back position, as Gareth was the smallest and oldest queen. I, for my skill of speaking directly with all dragons, was to relay specific orders and commands from the Weyrleaders, Wingleaders, and individual riders from the front of the five-dragon queens wing.

The Weyrleader sat up in his saddle on his Macbeth's long bronze neck. Kaylith received a clear mental image of our destination. I made sure she had it perfect. I inquired of other dragons as well, who sent me their images of the destination. I received both crystal clear pictures and blurry ones. In a matter of seconds, I had sifted through several hundred mental images of the same location, corrected incorrect pictures, and told Macbeth to proceed.

I caught T'gen's eye, two wings over, who smiled nervously. He'd just graduated as a weyrling. This was his third flight in his wing, though he'd done short training flights against Thread several times before. I smiled back quickly, then averting my eyes to see Weyrleader B'gor ordering take off.

In perfect synchronization, all the wings lifted off the Weyr Rim. B'gor pumped his arms, and Macbeth winked between. At once, the rest disappeared, every Wing and Flight. As Kaylith jumped _between_, I felt the touch of a dragon mind, Nalonth, T'gen's dragon, also in _between_. He had often reached for my mind to comfort me before, continuing the friendship that T'gen and I had.

We came out of _between_ at the front of the queen's wing just below a cloud. I searched to make sure that all the dragons had come through, and all but one had arrived in formation- an old blue who had come out far below his wing.

Every wing hovered, suspended in air far above a blue-gray sea. The coast stretched out behind, clouds hiding the tops of the ragged sea cliffs. The sea below was choppy, unlike the placid condition it had been last Threadfall. Gray clouds above the dragons' heads created a blanket over the world. However, we could not see the Thread that should have been coming from the northeast a hundred dragon lengths away.

_Should we go lower? _I asked Macbeth, who relayed the message to the Weyrleader.

_No_, was the reply. _We wait to see Thread, then-_

Two screams of agony cut off Macbeth. My ears heard a woman's scream from behind , muffled in the blowing wind. My mind heard and felt the terror-filled, wordless mind scream of a female dragon.

Gareth.

I heard Agina's screaming abruptly end. I felt every single ounce of pain that had gripped both of their bodies. I felt Gareth jump _between_, rushing to get rid of the Thread beginning to burn and eat their flesh. I saw where Gareth jumped to, or at least where she went but did not go to. Nowhere.

Agina and Gareth were gone- dead.


	6. Shaken

**Disclaimer: Anne McCaffrey owns Pern, I don't. I only own this fanfic and my characters.**

**I finally figured out what to do with my story. The next chapter will be where it really gets interesting. Please R&R!**

Every dragon had been shocked earlier that morning, unable to move to begin flaming Thread, until two more dragons were Threadscored. All of the wings jumped between to a lower level a few hundred feet from where they had been, managing to meet Thread where they could see it. All of the wings followed the Thread overland and most lasted the whole way through, but there were many more injuries than usual and more Thread for the remaining queens wing to handle.

When all of Benden's dragons had returned to the Weyr and Kaylith had landed on out weyr ledge, I had undone the riding harness **(thank you for correcting me)** with weary hands and slid off Kaylith's neck onto the stone ground with numb feet. Kaylith had wearily entered our weyr as I pulled off my riding helmet and gloves and made my way to meet with the Weyrleader, the Wingleaders, and all of the other queenriders.

The most important topic of this meeting was Agina's replacement. The tradition was that in the death of a Weyrwoman, the death of a Weyrwoman's dragon, or the resignment of a Weyrwoman, the next queen mating flight would determine the new Weyrleader and Weyrwoman of the Weyr. All of the other queenriders claimed that their dragons would not mate for at least six months. That left Kaylith, the youngest queen of Benden Weyr who had not yet mated.

----------------

"What about Kaylith?" Faylira, one of the queenriders standing on the other side of the meeting room where we had gathered asked. I couldn't tell if she was looking at me or the Weyrleader, whostood next to me, his face sad and mournful of his mate Agina's death.

"Perhaps," the Weyrleader answered, looking at me. "Kaylith has not flown a mating flight yet. Natala, she would be full size right now, wouldn't she?"

"But wait, B'gor," one of the Wingleaders said before I could nod my head, "How could Natala act as Weyrwoman without a voice, with no disrespect to you, Natala."

B'gor's face adopted the certain look that appeared on his face when he was thinking. Around the meeting room, other riders pondered this.

"She has her gift," Listira, an older queenrider, said, " she could speak through the dragons, or perhaps have an assistant follow her."

"Do we even know when her mating flight is?" another Wingleader asked, a rough Bitran rider named R'vin.

Kaylith, half-asleep in her Weyr, had been listening to some of the conversation through my ears. I heard her tell Macbeth what she thought, and then started to fall asleep again.

"Macbeth says that Kaylith believes that she could rise in as little as a month's time," B'gor said.

I felt like I was being excluded from the conversation, or at least the verbal side of it. The table in the middle of the meeting room had some blank sheets of parchment lying by maps and other documents. I l stepped up to the table, picked up a writing implement and began writing. B'gor stepped up and leaned over my shoulder, watching as I wrote with my much-improved handwriting. He read my words silently and answered them directly.

"Yes, I believe that if all are in agreement, Kaylith's mating flight will be the one that determines my replacement, a new Weyrleader, and will also make you Weyrwoman." He looked up and asked ," Are all those present in agreement?"

I stood up straight and saw that all but two hands were raised. I saw Wingleader R'vin with his hand raised and a smug smile on his face.

----------------

A month can go by fast.

Benden flew Thread eight more times, having improved since the Fall that began with Agina and Gareth's passing. I lead the queens wing with guidance from the older queenriders. I grew well into the position and benefited from it as Kaylith grew into a stronger dragon and I into a stronger rider. Between eight Falls, very few riders and dragons acquired Thread injuries and only one pair passed away into_ between_ with no return- the old Wingsecond of T'gen's Wing.

One thought consumed my mind for those sevendays leading up to Kaylith's mating flight- how in Pern I was going to lead Benden Weyr. No other Weyrwoman had had my problem, not being able to speak. Very few had the gift of hearing all dragons, but all had fulfilled their position able to speak with their mouths. As Weyrwoman, as soon as Kaylith rose for her first mating flight, I wouldn't be able to converse verbally with the people of the Lower Caverns, visitors to the Weyr, or other riders. I would have to give orders to dragons to relay to their riders and non-riders.

Kaylith soothed my mind every time the thought of being Weyrwoman arose. _I will be with you, I can help. The other queenriders and queen dragons will help._

_She is right, _one voice told me one time I had been stressed, the voice I immediately identified as Nalonth's. _Not only will the other weyrwomen help, but whoever is the new Weyrleader will gladly assist you._

_Did T'gen tell you to say that?_ I asked Nalonth.

_Yes. _A pause. _He also says no to worry about the flight either. _

Of course T'gen would be there to help me. He had been my only friend when we had lived at Benden Hold. He had understood me in my silence and cared about me. Though we had been trained to be riders separately and had been busy taking care of our dragon partners, our bond of friendship had held strong. I knew he would never stop this, comforting me when I became troubled and overwhelmed.

But he was also a bronzerider, paired with one of the largest bronzes on Pern. Nalonth would try to fly Kaylith. I knew he would want me when the time came. He was anxious too.

The day came unexpectedly. Though we had made a guess at when she would rise, neither dragon nor rider was ever certain of when. Our original guess had been four sevendays.

It came after only three and a half.


	7. Flown

**Disclaimer: The brilliant Anne McCaffrey owns the real Pern books, I don't. However I do own my characters.**

**A/N: A warning to my readers, most of this chapter is comprised of a mating flight. I will NOT write certain parts with details that explain exactly what is happening. Note that this fanfic is rated T for a reason. I will try to make this as appropriate as I can, but not everything can be left out.**

**A/N 2: Truthfully, I was at the brink of shedding tears when I was writing this, especially the last part. If you have a problem with reading very emotion-filled stuff that is the equivalent of a chick-flick , be prepared or don't read this at all.**

Kaylith slept peacefully, not one picture in her mind, not one dream all night between us. I woke up on my own, not awakened by wake-up calls or voices. My sleeping chamber was silent, only my breathing and the rustling of sleeping furs made any noise. Outside of my weyr, Benden Weyr was alive with activity. I guessed that it was almost midday by all the dragon voices in my head- more voices than should be in the Weyr.

Most of these mind voices belonged to bronze dragons.

Sitting up in my bed, I reached out with my mind to touch the dragon minds of the Weyr. I could tell by the feeling of the dragons's mind voices who was who. I felt few green dragon minds, mostly young and belonging to Benden Weyr, and absolutely no gold dragons besides my sleeping Kaylith. Almost of the blues and browns of Benden were there. But as I reached out, I mostly felt bronze dragons, over a hundred of them on the rim of the Weyr Bowl.

I gasped. Most of these bronzes were from other Weyrs, all of them full of beast blood. They were all waiting for a mating flight. They were waiting for Kaylith.

I got up out of my bed and rushed over to the chest where I kept my clothing. I pulled off the clothes I had slept in and quickly put on a light, deep blue dress. I ran my hand through my short blonde hair as I walked out of my sleeping chamber, not bothering to put on shoes. I entered into the cavern that Kaylith usually slept in. It was empty. I walked out to the ledge, my bare feet making no noise on the cold stone floor. I came out into the sunlight and found Kaylith, my giant gold, laying on her ledge in the sun, glowing brilliantly.

In my head I counted the days since Gareth and Agina's passing. It had only been twenty five days. Kaylith had said a month, just over four sevendays, but only three and a half had passed.

I looked all around the Weyr. Bronzes lay on the Weyr Rim and on lower ledges. They all looked right at Kaylith and her glowing hide. I could feel their anticipation buzzing in my mind, their thoughts wordless but anxious. I only recognized a few dozen bronze dragon minds, those that belonged to Benden Weyr.

With my mind, I sought out one mind in particular. I found him, his mind awake. With my eyes, I found him across the Weyr, sitting on his ledge, his rider leaning against the bronze dragon.

_Nalonth, _I asked, _is it already her time to rise, so soon?_

_Almost, _he replied, _T'gen says-_

His thought was disrupted by a stirring in my mind. Kaylith, who had been silent and without thought all night, came to awareness in my mind.

_It is time._

My gold queen, her hide shining with a golden light so brilliant I had to squint to look at her, opened her eyes. They glowed gold, a shade I had never see in her eyes before because she had never felt like this before. My chest felt hot, burning and aching with a fire of pure emotion.

Kaylith stood and bellowed out one note. She leapt off the ledge, spreading her wings and gliding down to the feeding grounds. She landed with her talons submerged into the back of one of the beasts, blood oozing out onto the ground. The bronzes waited. I remembered my training, the things that the other weyrwomen had told me in preparation for the flight. They told me that gold dragons should only drink the blood of beasts and not consume meat. I was strictly and specifically told to not let her eat any flesh.

_Kaylith, _I told her_, don't eat the meat. Only drink the blood._

Kaylith bit into the neck of the beast she had caught and began sucking only on the blood. She finished quickly and pounced on an even larger beast, sinking her teeth into its soft neck.

Only drink the blood, I reminded her. _If you consume its meat you'll sink like a rock._

She finished that beast and consumed the blood of three more. As Kaylith drank up the blood of the fifth, bronzeriders were hurrying to my ledge. A hundred of them gathered in front of me as Kaylith raised her bloody snout and roared a challenge to the bronze dragons, daring them to catch her. She spread her wings and with one mighty down stroke rose into the air.

The burning emotion in my chest reached its peak and my mind became entirely one with my dragon.

* * *

_Burning. Burning heat. My wings could not carry me as fast as I wanted to climb._

_But then I was not alone. Natala was with me, fully with me. Her body was somewhere else but her mind was with mine. I flew, but we flew together._

_I rose higher and higher, the warm winds lifted me higher than the clouds. I was higher than the height at which we fought Thread. I was followed by many bronzes. My bronzes._

_Not all could follow this high. They fell back and left the flight. They were the old, small, weak bronzes. They hadn't ever had any chance with me._

_Some kept up, the largest bronzes that were the size of small queens. I was larger. I was the largest queen on Pern._

_Two were from Benden, the rest were from other places. They all wanted me. They all had to want me to chase after me._

_Their riders want to be Weyrleader, the Natala part of me thought._

_Five bronzes fell behind. I was so high that the air was becoming thin. I stopped climbing but flew east. A wind carried me away from the pursuers. _

_Two more became tired. The two from Benden and three others kept up._

_I was so strong, so fast. So beautiful, Natala in me thought. Those bronzes had no chance with me._

_One grew tired, followed by two more who dropped down from the sky. Only two left, the two from Benden._

_I could feel their minds, the emotion and strength that identified them as Bantoth and Nalonth. They were the biggest bronzes at Benden, both worthy to catch me. But one had to be better._

_Nalonth, the larger and younger, sped forward and came closer. I felt his breath on my tail. He had almost caught me before I increased my speed and flew away. He would have to try a little harder before I would let him catch me._

_They were close again, both of the bronzes. Hot, fiery blood flowed through me. Hot beast blood filled my stomach. I was so fast, powerful, strong, beautiful. I led the two bonzes on a chase that-_

_One dragon cried out in pain. I felt his mind. He was the one most familiar to me. He was the one who was strong enough to catch me, the only one who should catch me._

_Natala in my mind was shocked. She knew him, she loved his rider. It's the dragon's choice, she thought, just because he is hurt doesn't mean that you'll betray me if you let the other one catch you._

_No. The hurt one had been hurt by the older, smaller one. He was not worthy for me. He had hurt the one we wanted, but that was not the reason he was unworthy. I, Kaylith, wanted Nalonth. I was the dragon, I chose who I wanted to catch me._

_Nalonth dropped from the sky, his wings torn and unable to lift him. Bantoth, the one who used his talons, sped forward to catch me._

_No, I screamed into his mind. I dived out of reach of Bantoth. I dived down to Nalonth and hooked our talons together. Our tails twisted around each other. We came together._

_I had the one I wanted._

_--------------_

_I had the one I wanted._

My mind separated from Kaylith as _she_ caught Nalonth. I was thrust back into my body, my mind disconnected from Kaylith's powerful body. She was her own self, caught up in the mating flight in the sky. I was me again, just me in this body...

I was lying in a bed. My bed. With someone.

My skin was covered in sweat. I had no idea how I had gotten from the ledge to my sleeping chamber and into this bed. Someone's warm body lay on me, lips kissed mine with passion. My eyes were closed, I couldn't see who was with me.

I pulled back and opened my eyes. I looked up into eyes that were colored just like the hide of a... green dragon?

Shards, it was R'vin!

My eyes opened wide. Anger rushed through me. This was not who I should be with. The man I should be with had bronze eyes, not green. No, shard it, this was not T'gen! I lifted my arms and with a burst of mad energy tried to push R'vin off of me. He was big and strong, though, and I could not get him off me alone.

Hands grabbed R'vin's shoulders and pulled him away. R'vin was flung onto the floor. Arms wrapped around me and held me close to a bare chest. The man who held me had warm skin. He felt right, he felt like he was the one I should have been with.

"Shard it, R'vin," the man who held me shouted at R'vin on the floor, "Bantoth didn't have Kaylith at all! Your sharding dragon clawed mine. Kaylith and Nalonth are together, she caught him. Natala is mine!"

R'vin cowered from T'gen's enraged voice. I felt huge relief as I saw that R'vin had only his shirt off and that he hadn't gotten fully undressed. But my dress had been torn completely off of me. That sharding R'vin.

R'vin stumbled out of my sleeping chamber. I looked into T'gens eyes, into the face of the one I should have been with. His face was pained, but his eyes looked into mine with an overwhelming sense of love.

I remembered Nalonth. I wanted to ask T'gen how he was, but how could I ask without a voice?

How could I tell him that I loved him?


	8. Heard

**It has been a long, _long_ time since I last updated. Thank you for all the reviews, they have helped me a lot. **

**I feel that this story must come to a close very soon, and I don't have anything more to write about the characters here. The next chapter will be the last of this story. Please don't complain or try to plead with me to continue writing with Natala and T'gen, their story ends with the next chapter. However, I do have _two _new stories for DRoP that I'm currently working on, so I'll continue writing fanfiction in this category.**

**Oh, and _this chapter is in Nalonth/T'gen's POV_- their side of the mating flight.**

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* * *

She is mine._

_I am the fastest, the strongest, the largest. I will catch her, she will not escape me._

_So beautiful her gold hide that streaks through the sky. She taunts me, she challenges me to catch her. I almost catch her, but she flies ahead._

_But then there is pain. My inner wing sails are torn, the flesh of my back clawed. I cry out, I fall behind, I cannot fly. I fall._

_He will get her, the one who uses violence to reach her. He cannot get her, he must not get her. He is not worthy._

_I have failed, I have not caught her. She will not be caught because of-_

_But she comes to me, she hooks my talons with hers. She twists her tail around mine, she folds in her wings and drops. We come together._

_She has caught me._

* * *

_She has caught me._

Nalonth and I disconnected minds. My back ached, like there where claw marks on my bare back. I leaned against the cave wall, my eyes closed, my arms feeling... empty.

She was not in my arms, where she should be.

I opened my eyes and searched for her. Kaylith and Nalonth were together, but I did not have Natala. I could still felt the immense emotion streaming from my bronze, but there was no one there with me.

I pushed myself away from the cave wall with my arms and raced into Natala's bedchamber. I found R'vin on top of Natala, Natala unclothed beneath him, trying to push him off.

Shard it! I cursed under my breath as my legs propelled me across the floor, where Natala's dress lay torn. My hands grabbed R'vin's shoulders, my fingers digging into his skin, and tore him off of my Natala. I flung his large body all the way across the room where he hit the wall and landed to the floor in a heap.

I hurried and sat on the bed next to Natala, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close and tight against me. I put my body between her and R'vin, shielding her from anymore hurt from that man.

"Shard it, R'vin," I shouted at him, my head flooded with anger, "Bantoth didn't have Kaylith at all! Your sharding dragon clawed mine. Kaylith and Nalonth are together, she caught him. Natala is mine!"

R'vin stumbled and fled the room. My head started to clear as he left, but powerful emotions consumed me still, partially influenced by the mating flight high above us. I looked down into _my _Natala's eyes.

So beautiful.

Her deep blue eyes, flecked with gray and black, shone with tears. My heart melted. Her forehead was beaded with sweat; her hair, the color of a gold dragon's hide, was ruffled and tangled. She breathed heavily, staring up into my eyes with love and sadness. How could those two emotions show together on one face? Her lip quivered, tears just beginning to fall from her eyes to her suntanned cheeks. I held her tighter and she buried her face into my neck. I ran one of my hands through her hair, with the other I rubbed her bare back.

In my mind, I heard Nalonth cry out in pain. He and Kaylith had broken apart from their dive and were stopping their steep descent. But Nalonth, his inner wing sails torn, could not properly fly or land. I felt is panic as he neared the ground, his body weakening, too weak to possibly jump _between _and come out closer to the ground.

A hundred feet above the ground, I felt through Nalonth's mind, Kaylith and a few blue dragons came under his wings to help him. His wings still painfully outstretched, the large queen and the smaller blues helped him down to the ground, enabling him to land safely. Through his mind, I saw weyrfolk rushing towards him with buckets of numbweed, ready to lather his wounds in the substance and begin repair on his inner wing sails.

I turned my attention back to my Natala. Her face still buried into my neck, her body shook with sobs. I leaned my face close to her ear and whispered, "Nalonth is going to be alright." Her crying ceased for a moment as she looked up into my face. Eyes red, she smile just a little, but her lips were open partway, like she was trying to speak.

_T'gen, _I heard in my mind. The dragon voice was Kaylith's. _She wants to tell you that she loves you._

Natala was breathing hard, gasping for air. Her lips tried to form words, her throat dry. Was she trying to speak? But she couldn't, her parents had said that she was born unable to speak. I watched my Natala as she desperately tried to make words come out of her mouth. I released my grip on her body just a little, letting her breathe easier.

She leaned to the side and coughed violently. Her coughs sounded like gagging, but she threw nothing up. I held her to keep her from falling over as she gasped for air, her hands gripping her neck as she coughed. She leaned into me once again, her hands on my shoulders, eyes staring into mine, breathing hard, her sweet breath on my skin.

It came out as a whisper, but I could hear her say "T'gen."

My eyes widened, thinking my ears had been tricked. Had she just spoken my name?

"T'gen," she gasped out again, her voice louder, continuing between breaths, "I... love... you."

Her voice was rough and weak, like she had to dig deep to find the words. But she had spoken, her voice sounding just like her dragon's, her voice so sweet in my ears besides its roughness.

A miracle had just happened- my wordless Natala had spoken.


	9. Kissed

**Well, this chapter is the last. I know that this story is considerably shorter than most other completed stories, but my aim was to end the story about here. Please enjoy this last chapter!**

**This chapter jumps back to Natala's POV, if you were wondering.**

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* * *

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_**21st Turn of 7th Pass**_

Kaylith came out of _between_ over Benden Hold.

Gather tents littered the fields surrounding the Hold. Bright banners hung from the Hold's windows, flags flapping in the wind up on the fire heights, where many dragons rested. My Kaylith glided down to the Hold, her gold wings shining in the sunlight. Nalonth with his healed wings followed us, carrying T'gen.

Kaylith and Nalonth landed in a grassy area designated for landing dragons. T'gen dismounted his dragon first, coming over to help me down off my great gold queen. As soon as I was safely down, our dragons took off, heading up to rest on the fire heights of Benden Hold .

T'gen and I made our way through the Gather tents to the Lord and Lady Holders of Benden. We met them near a table where a variety of Benden wine was being served. T'gen greeted his parents, the Lord and Lady Holder, as someone else offered us wine. We engaged in conversation with the Holders, who were just as surprised to hear me speak as Benden Weyr had been less than a full Turn ago.

I had been born into this world unable to speak. Never in my 18 turns prior to Kaylith's mating flight had I ever spoken a word. The desperation of the flight and the passionate emotions of it had stirred me enough to cause me to speak. No one, not even Pern's best healers, had been able to figure out why I had not been able to speak or exactly how I could speak after the mating flight.

My voice was still soft and rough in some places, but it had been growing stronger ever since. With a voice, I was able to perform my duties as Weyrwoman easily, minding how much I used my voice in order to preserve it. The whole Weyr had been amazed that I could suddenly speak, especially after I came down from my weyr after the mating flight and helped in the healing of Nalonth's wings. By some miracle, the bronze dragon's back muscles and inner wing sails had been able to heal properly in less than three months. The damage had not been huge, just enough to keep Nalonth out of the sky while his back and wings healed. T'gen, the new, official Weyrleader, had still lead Threadfall from Kaylith's back with me during that time.

Months after the mating flight, Kaylith had lain a clutched of twenty-six eggs. Some of the other weyrwomen had said that the clutch would have been larger, but because Nalonth and Kaylith had come together at a lower altitude than normal, the clutch was smaller than the average size during Passes. We all hoped that it would be larger the next flight.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, out time spent talking with other Lord and Lady Holders and other dragonriders. Evening came and all participants in the Gather joined together in the Hold's main courtyard for the evening meal. T'gen and I ate in haste, anxious to join in the dances lead by the music of Harper's instruments.

* * *

The last dance ended many hours later. Many of the Gather participants had retired for the night, but the dances and music had continued long past midnight. T'gen and I stood on tired feet, exhausted. We called our dragons down from the fire heights as we headed towards the field where we would meet them. Along the way, we bid farewell to Lord and Lady Holders and other Gather participants as we passed them.

We met our dragons, their gold and bronze hides dimly glowing in the faint light of the stars. T'gen helped me up onto Kaylith before mounting his own dragon. He wearily climbed aboard Nalonth and was securing his riding harness as our dragons leapt gracefully into the night. Calling up images of Benden Weyr with perfect clarity, both dragons jumped _between_. A moment later, we emerged over Benden Weyr in the black, starry night. Kaylith and Nalonth glided down to our weyrledge, landing silently. I slid off Kaylith's neck with no assistance and headed into the weyr.

T'gen just behind me, I entered the sleeping room and fell onto the bed, kicking off my boots. T'gen sat down beside me, taking his boots and riding jacket off. I smiled at him and he smiled back, rubbing my cheek with the back of his hand.

"That was... enjoyable," I said, my voice quiet but strong.

T'gen leaned closer to me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "Yes, it was," he said, and leaned in to kiss me.

Every night after that ended the same.

* * *

**That's it! More stories set on Pern during earlier and later Passes coming soon. Please Review and tell me how you liked Natala's story as a whole. **

**By the way, this story was written just for fun- I'm still NOT Anne McCaffrey, nor do I own anything but this story and my characters.**


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